His eyes
Were clear,
Like stars.
He could
Have killed me.
But he didn’t.
I stayed calm
And he walked
Around me.
I felt safe with him,
As in my father’s arms.
Poor Kurt’s knees
Kept knocking
And his teeth
Chattered
For hours
After.
I tried not to laugh,
But I felt light and happy.
We should have left bread crumbs
To find our way back. I think we
Walked in the same circle twice
Before we found the shelter.
I was scolded
For leaving the shelter,
But I could tell
Father Michael
Was relieved
To see me.
Father Josef
Was there too.
He gave me a big hug.
I was so excited.
They didn’t understand
When I said they must go back
To save the Lindenbaums.
Poor Kurt
Related the story
As best he could.
Father Josef and Father Michael
Sat on a bench at the other side of the shelter.
I could see their lips moving.
They came back over to me and Poor Kurt.
Father Michael was wringing his hands.
Father Josef put his hand on my shoulder.
Poor Kurt listened to them with a frown.
When they moved away, he told me
With the signs I taught him that they would
Not be going back. I was shocked!
They thought we would all be in danger
Hiding Jews in our midst. I said, “But they are
Keeping me secret. What will happen to Nelly
And the baby, Paul?” Poor Kurt held on to me
And we both sobbed. Would anybody take
Pity on them? Not even God?
1941
Germany
Was caught up
In the Russian Campaign.
Hitler
Wanted to avoid
Public unrest at home.
He gave the order
To end T4.
But the killings didn’t stop
I learned much later that individual physicians
Were making the choices themselves as to whether
Or not their patients were
“Fit for life.”
As German cities were being bombed,
Inmates in institutions were being moved.
Many of them wound up dead.
Disabled adults were killed in gas chambers.
For decades after, they tried to hide the numbers.
It is estimated that 275,000 Disable people
Were “euthanized” by the Nazis.
Another 400,000 were sterilized
So they couldn’t
Bear children like themselves.
When the American GIs
Occupied Germany
And World War II
Was finally over,
A handful of doctors
Who had worked
For Action T4
Were brought to justice.
Not Dr. Bouhler;
He committed suicide.
But Dr. Brandt was tried
And executed in a place
Called Nuremberg.
Some of the others continued
To practice medicine.
T4 became something people
Weren’t willing to talk about
And remember.
But now I could go home
To my little house
On a street
With tall poplar trees
And bluish hills
In the distance.
Though
The war
Still
Raged on.
Poor Kurt had nowhere to go
I didn’t want to leave him behind.
He had become my closest friend.
The road we had traveled together
Couldn’t be understood by another.
There are times in life when everything
Seems to stretch ahead of us and time
Slows down, almost like a dream. We
Had been caught under the same spell.
I asked Kurt if he’d like to go back
To my town with me and Father Josef.
He was surprised, and sat in the corner
Of the shelter to think it over for a while.
Father Josef said to me, “Perhaps your
Parents won’t want to feed and board him.”
I said, “He can live and work on a farm.”
Poor Kurt decided to come along.
My family was reunited
Mother and Father took turns
Holding on to me and
Standing back to look at me
To see how much I’d grown.
My grandparents pinched
My cheeks and shed tears.
Clara pulled me into
The house to see her new doll
And books. Schatze was
Probably the happiest to see me.
She licked my hands and face
And jumped on my back
When I bent down.
It was funny
To see my house
And family
Since I had
Gone out in the world.
I used to think it was all there was.
I had tucked my teddy bear
Into Paul’s baby blanket
Before I left the cabin.
I always felt glad
About that later on.
The fairy tale book
I left with Nelly.
I wondered if she
Could still believe in
Happily ever after?
Poor Kurt’s Surprise
My family looked at this strange person.
He would have to take a bath if he was
To come into the house and eat at the table.
I got in the large tub first and turned on
The faucet. Warm water tickled my body.